Spies of the Viceroy
by JuliaBC
Summary: Semi-drabble where Magdalena tells off Zorro.


edit: I hope this is obvious in that I do not mean it to be a sequel to my Sweet Face of Danger novelization. It is completely separate.

"Oh, why didn't you let him kill me?"

"I will be a long time explaining that to myself." Zorro strode to his horse. "Adios, Magdalena."

Magdalena's resolve broke and she ran after him. "Senor Zorro! Senor Zorro, wait!" He wouldn't stop. She pulled her proverbial wild card. "Diego! Stop this instant! Diego de la Vega!" The horse was pulled to a stop so quickly Zorro probably got whiplash. He turned to ride over to her. Magdalena took her shoes off; it was too hard to run in these shoes meant for dancing. "Why did you call me that?" He asked harshly.

"First things first. You are a fool. And you ruined everything."

"What?"

"You had no proof I was a true agent of the Eagle, _stupido._ Do you know how long it takes trusted by the Eagle? Three years! Three years I was waiting for him to give me the greater missions. Why? Because I am involved in the noble art of espionage. From the beginning,I spied for the Viceroy. I sat through tedious meetings of lower agents. I acted the flighty flirt so no one would suspect. I let myself be thought of as a_ ramera_ just so he would trust me with the feathers. And you wiped out that trust with the single cut on a feather!"

He just stared.

"We had prepared three years for this! If you hadn't meddled, Galindo's reign would be over that much quicker!" She snapped her fingers and Zorro flinched. "And then we could begin with the Eagle! And I wouldn't be suspect! But now I will be pursued with killers and not even for the correct reasons!" She exhaled. "But to your question…you really are a fool if you think that disguise fools anyone. Anyone who is fooled by it...Los Angeles seems to be _full_ of_ idiotas._" She turned in disgust then, and stalked back to her father's side. After a moment, Zorro turned to ride again and was gone in the blink of an eye.

**A way too long Author's Note:** This is the type of story I write when I am mad at Diego. Don't get me wrong—I _love_ Diego. And Sweet Face of Danger is my favorite, favorite episode. I love the chemistry between him and Magdalena. But by the time the end of the episode rolls around, I feel myself getting angry at Diego. So these are (most of) the points I can make about him and Magdalena:

1: Diego is the person to cut the feather, and yet has the gall to say "I will be a long time explaining that to myself." Explaining WHAT? You were the person to cut the blinking feather!

2: The only thing Magdalena says in her defense is this: "I didn't know anyone would be hurt." But Diego did. He cut the feather with the intention that the Magistrado be killed. Yes, he is evil. Yes, he deserves to die. But nevertheless, Diego did know someone would 'be hurt' and he still cut the feather and yet somehow she is the evil one and he is the innocent. Not.

3: The way I explain it to myself in Diego's defense is that he falls very hard, very fast for Magdalena, so that is why he is so crushed at the party and then speaks so angrily to her as Zorro. So that is in his defense.

4: But another thing—he _never_ gets as angry at _anyone_ else in the show as he does at Magdalena. Not even at Raquelle, and she definitely knew 'someone would be hurt'. So the way I put it in my head is that, for whatever inexplicable reason, the only woman he judges as past 'the age of reason' is Magdalena. For whatever reason she is the only one he holds fully responsible for her actions.

The way I think it, he doesn't judge the other women—like Anna Maria—so harshly because he thinks of them as not past 'the age of reason'. Maybe also he thinks of it as Magdalena having had the flimsiest reason—being bored—to be an idiota.

But also in Mexico City it seems she had no one guiding her. _Her father_ (or anyone else with a brain) _was not there._ He had left her there so she could be 'raised in Mexico City' as a mark of distinction for her.

Anna Maria does have someone guiding her—Diego. He gives her excellent advice every step of the way and all she does is go off half cocked with Ramon to save her father despite all evidence pointing to the fact she should trust Diego and Zorro and not this fool. No matter what happens, until Amnesty for Zorro, Anna Maria does _not_ trust Diego. She _never_ follows his advice. You are given the impression at the end of Sweet Face of Danger that what Magdalena does then is go back to Mexico City and live a quiet, respectable life. She redeems herself. But Anna Maria never does so, she just keeps on thinking of Diego as a well meaning but stupid 'good friend' and of Zorro the epitome of manhood. And yet Anna Maria is one Diego loves. (And despite how vehement I am getting, I don't actually dislike Anna Maria.)

5: Magdalena is one of the only women who sees Diego as a man and not a fop who is not as good as Zorro. She doesn't let his disguise fool her; she sees through it and treats him as everyone else should. She never belittles him like Rosarita and never outright rejects him as Anna Maria does. And yet he refuses to forgive her. (Well, I guess you could say that in the episode there is no chance/reason for Magdalena to belittle him. But she could have pulled away at the lake. And she doesn't. I guess you could say that because of that the 'other things' Diego heard are justified.)

6: But those other things are actually not explained so it's not necessarily because she was a flirt, the rumors he might have heard could be relating to her actions as an agent of the eagle. And also, he thinks of her as some sort of slut, yet lets himself fall so quickly. And tries to kiss her. And what does this say about him?

7: And if you take Zorro's words literally, ("I will be a long time explaining that to myself.") then he is basically saying, "Yeah, I should have let you die, but whatever." And also, what gives him the right to judge her? Why does he get to take it so personally? Despite the fact that it is a TV show about him, actually everything _doesn't_ revolve around Diego/Zorro. And for some reason, Magdalena being a Spanish lady does not enter into his reasons for rescuing her like it does with Raquelle. What else does that say about Diego? (I could go on like this for days. And I admit to being very over obsessed.)

8: The last point I will make is this. Diego doesn't explicitly know her reasons for being an eagle agent. He guesses at her being bored. In this story, I put her as a spy. (A note actually relating to the story, is that I don't actually think she was a spy and find it very unlikely.) But simply to get disliking Diego out of my system, I wrote this. Enjoy. If you can after all my rambling. And I won't be surprised if you don't enjoy it. (And yes, I realize the Author's note is three times as long as the story.) One more thing—you may be doubting my love for Diego by now. I still love him. I am simply happy to admit that he is a major ass in this episode. Even though it's my favorite. Wow, I contradict myself.


End file.
